The Sacking of Erebor
by StormwalkerofLorien
Summary: A free-verse poem about the sacking of Erebor by the dragon Smaug and Thorin's quest to reclaim it. Runner-up in TORn's monthly poetry contest. K-plus because I want to be on the safe side.


**This is a poem I wrote for TORn's monthly poetry contest, back in October. I was one of two runners-up to the winner, which, I won't deny, made me freak out like I had just won the lottery. And I couldn't resist publishing it here :)**

**Hope you enjoy!**

_The Sacking of Erebor:_

Twas first a wind

A clatter from the barren Northern skies

That rattled, shook and seared the face

With prying, soul less eyes

That fed upon all fear

Teeth gnashing-

Soul by soul until

The senses finally lied

In such an alpine cold

Did surely this rotten wind belong,

But when the winds did change

They found the consequence

Of right and wrong.

Then came the cry

That split the gusts

With serpent tongue,

That shattered hope and tore at minds

For sanity was wearing

When the watchman rang the gong;

The beast, it screamed a scream

That sang the songs

Of corpses dancing salsa

Upon the toes

Of right and wrong.

It cried of hunger, treasure, blood

Of conquerers who, shattered, fell

Their gems and jewels flying

Over hill and under dell,

'Till nought was left of them but ash

That buried them on sight, and there they dwell

Before its eyes and teeth and smell

And grinding, wordless song

That rolls like tumbleweeds and holly leaves along

The bloodstained shores

Of right and wrong.

A beast of lore that did not settle

Any more for stringy cattle

Hunkered down for far too long,

Did finally rise, and far it flew

To halls of peace and armies strong

Where fire pranced like stags

Among the cursed wreckage

Of right and wrong.

He tossed his flame upon the gate

Like feathers gathered from a golden pillowcase;

Scarlet scales and silver claws

That cleaved the flesh from Dwarvish bones

And lifted hollow armor -still smoking- to his jaws;

He sniffed, nostrils flaring, air sucking

Through the dragon tunnels, hollow, long;

Then took a bite, reveled in it,

Death and fire

That fell like stars upon the moonless night

Of right and wrong

In all its glory days,

Never did the ancient citadel

See such destruction as the day

The embers of the dragon Smaug did quell

The forge, the king's great hall,

And the Arkenstone, so small

A thing of such great value ere did fall

From the hands of the king

When he fled from his hall

From the dragon's breath,

The smell of death,

And twisted metal burning on his left

That, ringing, brought him with the rest

To the massive gates where they gathered, bereft

Of home and hearth, and sang a bitter funeral song

Between the past and lain out path

Of right and wrong

Footsteps left to rot in the ground

For travelers coming around

Mean nothing but the Dwarves were passing

Through another blacksmith's town, run-down

With swormakers, swordsman, and swords to wield

There the Dwarf-king's heir has found

A heart, a soul, no desire to yield

To the dragon's scream that spits and creaks

Like melting armor-

This is not the age to be weak

Yet what will Thorin go to find?

What did he leave behind,

In a city filled of scavengers

That when one comes too close will squeak

And hide before the coming dawn

In the crumbling age

Of right and wrong?

But march he would, with map and key

And fourteen others willing

To share his fate for blood or grudge,

A brother's love or lineage,

Or rights to filling

Their pockets with gold from city forgotten

That hides beneath a mountain rotten

With vultures, worms and carrions,

Every dweller dead save the dragon

Who snores beneath his lonely mountain,

Waiting for the blade of Thorin

To dare seek his bloodied hide

To even try,

To fell the ripping jaws,

The gleaming claws,

The voice like heated rock that sears

And drags upon the ears;

He waits and listens here,

And then he screams

His awful dragon song

But this is not yet the end of Thorin

Who doubtless was destined to die all along.

For we know the tales

Or right and wrong.


End file.
